Year of Self Sufficiency
Over the last few months I have been reading and thinking more about what a self sufficient life would look like in today’s modern world. It was not that long ago that people still made, grew, and fixed broken items themselves. Today companies intentionally make products to be thrown away when they break and make it cost prohibitive to fix. It used to be that instructions and parts came with the product to help the buyer maintain it for the long term. People are also less accepting of a self-sufficient life. Last year a suburban homeowner was harassed by their neighbors for doing what was considered normal a generation before mine. Somehow clotheslines, front yard vegetable gardens, and chicken coops became tacky and unwelcome in modern neighborhoods.
Already on a mission to reduce my waste, a goal I started over a year ago, I see this new plan to live more self sufficient as going hand in hand. The more I make myself, the less I have to buy in plastic packaging. I have already accepted how much extra work this will be and welcome the challenge. For example, I plan to build a chicken coop and keep two chickens in my backyard. The challenge of feeding and tending to them each day, even in the sub zero temps of winter, will seem easy compare to fighting off the foxes that run rampant through our neighborhood. But I would rather try than give up before starting because it will be challenging.
I want to start down this path not only because it is a more sustainable one, but because it will teach me to become more resilient and self-reliant. I find it more rewarding when something I have came from hard work and dedication. A can of tomatoes from the store, besides being bland, is far less satisfying than popping the top off a canned jar that came from my summer garden. I also love walking out to grab fresh lettuce for a salad instead of ripping open a plastic bag that I have no idea where it came from or what it went through to arrive at the grocery store. I also want to be able to make clothing, soap, baskets or fix things when they break.
I am not the only one who appears to feel this way. What was a minority in the 1980s and 1990s has grown to a larger share of the population. You can find several books, blogs, and groups all devoted to urban homesteading. It is so much easier to find information on topics such as keeping bees, designing a garden, or installing rain barrels it makes it much less daunting to start. So for 2022 I will be learning how to become more self sufficient one project at a time. I will not be deterred by whether it may seem hard or challenging or whether my neighbors will think I’m tacky. It's a journey worth taking and that’s all that matters.
